Another quickie about food. For Thanksgiving dinner I ended up going to spicy galbi, which is easily my favorite Korean meal. It's basically just tender pork marinated in a spicy Korean blend which is grilled over some extremely hot coals right at our table. We take the pork cut it into smaller pieces, at some onions or garlic, wrap it up in a lettuce or sesame leaf and consume. I'll miss it.
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A few weeks ago, Pavi had the ingenious idea to get a bunch of people together, charter a couple boats and go fishing in the waters off Seogwipo (Sawgeepo) for 2 hours. I'm not much of a fisherman (like Big Mike) but I enjoy being on the water and drinking a couple beers. We ended up having a little over a dozen people going on our boats, and it ended up being a pretty fun time. The fish were just jumping on the lines, although not many of them were bigger than one of our hands. It was really nice being out on the water on one of the last pleasantly warm days and seeing the south-sides of islands that we had yet to glimpse. We even stopped at a floating fishing 'lodge' complete with a bathroom, picnic tables, food and booze. You could even fish from the side if you were so inclined.
After the fishing, I convinced the people on my boat to head across the new bridge to the small island to watch the sunset. It ended up being too hazy for a sunset, but we listened to some music, had a couple drinks and just chatted on the cliffs. It was a pretty nice little end to the day...for those that didn't go out that night. This will just be a quick little post for all you people back on the other side of the world just starting out the week. I had a good weekend of fishing on a boat off the coast, but I decided to blog about that later. For now, here is some Korean food, a topic which has oft been asked about. (Descriptions are in the picture captions.) I can honestly say it took me awhile to get to the point where I enjoy Kimchi, but I do appreciate it now. Especially hot, or in kimchi-chigay, a kind of kimchi stew with tofu and other stuff. Great hangover food. Of everything I probably eat the spicy gimbap the most. My favorite meal as everybody here knows is spicy galbi which I'll have some pictures of soon. Chicken is ridiculously expensive, so I don't get that as much as I'd like.
Happy Monday! Wow, it's been awhile. I apologize to all both of you that read this. I have not really been in the best mental space to blog about my life. Usually if I'm having a ton of fun, or if I'm fairly depressed, I find myself a lot less likely to sit down and share. When I'm having fun, I don't want it to end, and usually just keep chasing it. When I'm feeling down, I don't really think the world (save my close family and friends) really cares/needs to know about it. I suppose it's been a pretty turbulent month, filled with it's ups and downs, but I'll shy away from the valleys here. I fear Pavi and I may have had our last surf session/sessions of the year. The typhoon season is coming to an end (I'm the the Filipinos are relieved) which means an end to the vast majority of our waves. We had a morning session where sets were coming in well overhead. Some how we made it out, but not for long. We each had a massive bomb or two, but then the clean upset came through and knocked Pav and myself all the way down the beach to the Hyatt. It was either time to get out, or decide to float to Shanghai. By the time we'd walked up the beach, the waves had become too choppy for anybody to make it out, so we headed home. The other weekend, we had a decent little swell on Saturday into Sunday. Pav and I surfed basically from noon till 6 with a 10 minute break. The waves weren't incredible, but it was nice to be out there. I had a few good rides and even snuck in a game of volleyball in between. Afterwards we went out for Marita's birthday (this is the day after an all-nighter at Geckos and the norebang for Alex's b-day) to Geckos and another norebang. It was actually ridiculously fun, and nice to have so many people together at the same time. It was the kind of weekend that made me realize I could stay here another year if I had to, maybe just not at Wee English Zone. So anyway, Sunday Pavi and I headed up to the beach to look for some surf, and there wasn't much. We decided to suit up and give it a go nonetheless. It ended up being a great decision. We finally surfed the Hyatt cove on the little sandbar that formed outside and a little bit on the edge of the Hyatt cliff. They were quick shoulder high waves, but the water was so clear it was incredible. We could see schools of fish swimming under us and skipping across the water in front of us. I dropped in on a nice little right and could see the sand being sucked into the wall of the wave. Words can not describe how beautiful it was. It was a nice warm and clear fall day, with OK waves in the area I'd wanted to surf since I arrived. It was a really fitting end to the surf season, and one of those days when I'm back in the States that I'll never forget. For Halloween I went to Geckos (4 times in 10 days?) to celebrate with the crew. I dressed up as the legendary Ken Friesen. Ken is a Mennonite 'kid' from the Canadian States of America. Since we both buzz/shave our hair a lot of Koreans think we look the same. Well, they think all white people look the same, but I guess it's a little more pronounced with Ken and myself. I borrowed one of Ken's trademark shirts, wore my glass, and did my best not to smile in pictures, as the Kenny does not usually smile. The costume worked well enough that I had a few double takes and a couple other foreigners thinking I was Kenny from a distance. Lets hope I'm not that ugly, but you know... Of course Halloween ended with another norebang session until 4:30am. I have't norebanged that much my entire time in Jeju, but with El there to belt it out, it would have been tough to have a bad time. Although I still miss last year's Halloween with Gog and the Mrs. In other news, I had to say goodbye to my good friend Tanja, the dive master at Big Blue 33. It'd been great getting to know her and dive with her, but like everybody else here, she had to leave some time. I'm pretty sure our last dive together maybe have been my last dive on Jeju. It was a nice one out at Seopsom with tons of lion fish and large schools. Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have something good to write about again in a few days.
Only 70 days until my last day of work here on Jeju! Then I've got to get ready for the big surprise birthday party my friends are throwing me at home. Right... |
MuggsJust a little journal about my life. Click 'Comments' or the Titles if you'd like to add anything. The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
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